Kick Me in The Face
by Citrinepaladin
Summary: What are the chances of falling in love with a pro athlete halfway across the country?
1. Chapter 1

Yo i haven't written anything or published anything in years what the fuck is up!

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Lukas really didn't want to be here. Sitting on a couch in Arthur's apartment watching football, of all things. Arthur's boyfriend argued that its "America's pastime" but he also said the same thing about baseball. Nevertheless, here he was, bored as can be while the loud tune of the NFL played over the tv.

"Alfred, I thought you liked the patriots, what is this?" Arthur asked.

"They don't play this week, but football is football dude." He replied, plopping down on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, spilling some on the floor.

"What teams are these?"

"Vikings vs the packers," Alfred said. "Minnesota and Wisconsin."

"Lukas, if you want to go, feel free to. I know you're not one for sports." Arthur said.

"I can't leave till Emil gets off work. He has the car." Lukas replied. He can't help but enjoy the thought of his brother working. He works at a Chuck E cheese knock off, and Emil does not enjoy kids. But what else can a 16 year old do besides horrible retail?

"Hey man he'll enjoy it. I sense he could be a vikings fan, being norwegian and all. Weren't they vikings?" Alfred said. Lukas rolled his eyes. He didn't understand football one bit, aside from there being a ball and their field being a standard use of measurement in America.

The game began and right away Alfred was involved. He was yelling at the referee, the players, and jumping up at each play. Arthur watched his boyfriend more than the game with both a look of endearment and annoyance. Then it was half time.

"You know, I went to collage with one of the vikings." Alfred said, popping more popcorn in the kitchen. "Number 47! We were both on the football team!"

"Till you flunked out." Arthur said.

"I dropped out, thank you."

"Academic probation basically means you flunked out."

"I made the decision to leave school! I'll go back!" This argument had happened many times before. "See there he is!"

The men on tv were talking about the new addition to the team. The camera cut to the player. "Number 47, Mathias Køhler."

The man was tall, had blonde hair, messed up in almost spikes. His eyes were bright blue, and he had a cocky smile on his face. He was extremely attractive. Lukas' eyes were glued to the screen. This made the other two chuckle.

"Never seen you so interested in football Lukas." Arthur said. This snapped the norwegian back to reality.

"Aw do you have a crush on Mathias?" Alfred teased.

"He's attractive but I wouldn't go that far." Lukas said, rolling his eyes but a blush coming to his face. Alfred laughed.

Lukas' phone lit up with a text from his brother. He was outside thankfully.

"I'll see you guys later." He said, heading towards the door. Once outside, Alfred turned to his boyfriend.

"I'm pretty sure Matt is gay." He said.

"What are you thinking?" Arthur said with a puzzled expression.

"Nothing, nothing. Let finish the game." The two cuddled back onto the couch as half time was ending.

In the car on the way home, Lukas eyes didn't leave his phone. Emil talked about some kid puking in the ball pit, which was apparently the worst thing to happen on a sunday and how he and Leon had to fight over who was going to clean.

"What's got you so focused?" the younger asked, peering over. "Football?"

"If Alfred is going to interrupt me and Arthur every week for football, I might as well understand it."

"To each their own. Weird though."

"You're one to talk. Didn't you get into k-pop for your friend?"

"I just needed something to talk about at work." Emil blushed. His crush on his friend Leon was never discussed. In fact, neither brother knew the other was gay. It was rightfully assumed of Lukas because of his friends, the saying 'birds of a feather flock together' being quite truthful. Leon was out of the closet as gay though, Arthur being his cousin had told Lukas this when they learned the two younger boys were friends.

The rest of the car ride was relatively short and the two parted ways once back in their shared apartment. Lukas sat back in his desk chair, pulling out his laptop and googling more about this Køhler man.

It was true he went to the same school as Alfred, except completed his degree in Communications. Lukas then took to facebook, going on Alfred's profile and searching through his friends. He had a lot. It was as if Alfred added everyone he came across on facebook. The total count in the thousands. The lack of any alphabetical organization on the website seriously bothered the man so he had to resort to searching instead, which was probably a good idea to start with. Mathias… At least 17 results came up, but near the top was Mathias Køhler. Lukas felt a small smile creep to his face. Facebook stalking wasn't weird was it? Everyone did it after all.

He clicked the man's profile and the page turned. There was Mathias in the main circle on the left, turned around. His purple and gold jersey saying Køhler on the back with a big 47. His cover photo was him with two other men, a dog, and a child. It almost looked like a family portrait, except none of them looked alike. His timeline was full of photos of him playing football from various friends. He had no bio, and a lot of information was hidden, probably for good reasoning, being a pro athlete and all. But one thing stood out: it said he lives in the same city. This was odd considering they were nowhere near Minnesota, but supposedly he just forgot to change it to where he lives now. This meant he was from here though. Lukas might've crossed paths with him at some point… although he would've remembered someone so attractive. He wondered if Mathias ever came into the dentist office he worked at. He'd have to check at work tomorrow.

After stalking for a bit longer, Lukas started laughing at himself. Why was he stalking some football player who was probably straight? There were lots of pictures on his timeline of himself with women, and most football players were indeed straight. Besides, what were the chances they'd ever really see each other? He lived in Minnesota, Lukas lived in New England. There were completely different sections of the country!  
The norwegian decided to finish his stalking and go back to the book he was reading instead. A nice fantasy book to conclude a fantasy thought, the probability of meeting Mathias fading from his mind.

This was not the case for Alfred.

 _Hey buddy i know we havent talked in like a year since i left school but next time youre in town we should get together._

Alfred sent the message to Mathias late that night. The _active 3 hours ago_ turned to _active now_ and the chat bubble popped up.

 _Yea man it's been forever! I'm coming back for thanksgiving since we dont play and i'll be in town from like monday to saturday_

Alfred grinned.

 _Dude yes how about tuesday night we get together for dinner at romanos?_

 _As long as its not a date ;)_ Mathias replied.

 _I know you can't resist me matt but i have a boyfriend. In fact i'll bring him and one of my buddies._

 _Sounds good. Tuesday at romanos around 7 work?_

 _Ye see you then buddy!_

Alfred swiped out of messenger and locked his phone, setting on the bedside table.

"Hey were going out to dinner tuesday, tell lukas we'll pick him up." He said to his boyfriend.

"Fine fine. Go to sleep." Arthur replied. In two days, Lukas was going to be in for a surprise.


	2. Chapter 2

ngl it took me hours to write this because i kept doing everything but this.

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Tuesday afternoon came around and Lukas was counting down the minutes till he could leave work. It's not that he hates his job, but another receptionist called in so Lukas had to fill in at the pediatric wing of the dental office. Nothing like screaming kids and those complaining about their braces to make a work day go by slow. The poor introvert also had to go out to dinner that evening with Arthur and Alfred. This was common for them ever since the two started dating and Arthur made a point to keep his best friend around. So the trio did dinner at least once a month. Unfortunately all Lukas wanted to do was lay in bed till the next morning. Living life was exhausting, but he'd do it for his friends.

Six o'clock came around and Lukas packed up his stuff, said goodbye to the few left in the office, and walked to the car. He may share a car with his brother but he gets it on weekdays, the other on weekends; their schedules between work and school fitting perfectly. It only took him 10 minutes to make it home, luckily he avoided any traffic. Off came his work clothes and he debated whether to dress decently, or dress in sweatpants. He texted his friend to ask if he needed to dress up more, but if Alfred planned the dinner, they would most likely end up at Mcdonalds where sweatpants are more appropriate.

 _Look good._ Came the reply. No hint of why or where they were going. Sighing, the blond put on a white shirt, grey pants, black vest, and a blue scarf, deciding tonight's look would be rather...gay. Not too long after came a call from Arthur, signaling he was at the apartment. Lukas grabbed his coat and went out to join them, already hearing the music from the building.

Lukas slid in the backseat and nodded a hello to his friends, knowing words wouldn't be heard over the music. He liked music as much as the next guy, and wasn't that bothered by the volume, but Arthur was. Although he couldn't argue with his boyfriend, seeing how happy music made him, it caused Arthur to just melt.

They got to the restaurant. It was a local italian joint owned by a family Lukas went to school with. They had quite the high rating, only downfall being the somewhat pissed off waiter that occasionally was there. To the trio's luck, they got his brother instead.

"Hello! How many?" Feli asked.

"Four." said Arthur, Lukas giving him a puzzled look. Feliciano led them to a booth near the corner of the restaurant, the lighting dim and romantic. Arthur slid in, with Alfred next to him, Lukas across.

"He should be here soon." Alfred said to his boyfriend.

"Can I inquire as to who else is coming tonight?" Lukas asked.

"You'll see." the loud one said with a big smile. It was almost scary. Lukas sighed and picked up his menu, looking through the drinks. Suddenly there were lots of whispers around the relatively packed restaurant causing Lukas to look up. Near the door people were surrounding someone so nobody could see who it was. When the crowd parted, Lukas audibly gasped.

There was the football player. Mathias Køhler. Standing in the same restaurant, in the same city. He looked like he did on the tv, minus the football uniform. His hair was just as spiky and he wore a more form-fitting red athletic shirt, with dark jeans. Alfred, judging by Lukas' reaction, turned and stood up.

"Matt over here!" He waved the other over who came walking over with a smile. The two did a typical bro hug and Alfred introduced his boyfriend to the man. Lukas was absolutely starstruck and had to pull himself together. Mathias' eyes met the other's and he quickly looked down at his menu, trying not to blush.

"This is Arthur's best friend, Lukas. We figured you'd feel awkward being a third wheel so we asked him along!" Alfred said, and Mathias sat down, cornering Lukas in the booth.

"Hi, I'm Mathias." He had a bright smile for the norwegian who in turn found himself saying hello back, still not believing what was going on. Mathias eyes were even bluer in person and shined like stars and Lukas had never felt so gay in his life.

"Hello, my name is Antonio and I'll be your server tonight can I get you all started with some drinks today?" said the waiter. They are ordered their drinks. "Great I'll be back with those and to take your order."

"So Mathias, how's being a pro athlete?" Arthur asked.

"It's fucking awesome. The training is a bit intensive but nothing I can't handle. I mean I gotta stay fit and strong." Mathias replied. "The fame of it all is something I need to get used to.

"Man if I were you, i'd be raking in all the fame and attention. I should be joining you out there!" Alfred said.

"Too bad you flunked out." Lukas chimed in, still looking at his menu. Mathias laughed and it was the best think the other ever heard.

"We always wondered what happened to you. You flunked out?" Mathias asked.

"No I dropped out by my own choice!" Alfred replied.

"He got put on academic probation and after not being able to play football he decided he hated college and left." Arthur clarified.

"Oh. So what do you do now?"

"I'm an assistant manager at Dick's sporting goods." Alfred said proudly.

"Fitting." Mathias said with a snort. "What about you guys?"

"I'm a history teacher at a high school in the city." Arthur said.

"Neat!" He turned to Lukas. "And you?"

"I work at a dentist office." He said quietly.

"You're a dentist?"

"Receptionist." Saying it out loud to someone so successful was somewhat embarrassing. Especially when it was a relatively women-dominated field.

"That sounds less fun, but a lot of work." Mathias said with another bright smile.

"So how long have you two been together?" He asked the couple.

"Two years. We met through our mutual friend Francis." Arthur said. Alfred piped up.

"What about you Matt? You seem to have lot of women all over you at games." This made the athlete chuckled.

"Oh sure there's lots of women, nothing better than a big football player. But I'm single." Lukas felt his heart skip a beat.

"Lukas is single too!" Alfred exclaimed, unable to keep it to himself, after all this was just a tactic to get the two to meet. Said single boy felt his face heat up and rammed his foot into the other's leg.

"Alfred, volume." Arthur said. Mathias didn't comment on what the man said. Luckily their drinks had arrived and Antonio took their orders.

"It's so nice being home. I missed it around here a lot. Mathias said.

"Where are you staying?" Arthur asked.

"I'm over at my cousin Berwald's house. Him and his fiance Tino always offer their spare room to me when I'm home." The three made small talk for awhile, mainly the two former teammates catching up. Arthur caught the quiet man's eyes as he drank his drink a little too fast.

Their food them came to the table to the talking quieted down for a little bit while they all ate their food, only minimal conversations here and there. Then Alfred decided they'd all go to a bar together, right down the street. Lukas tried to make an excuse by they wouldn't accept it. So they paid for their dinner and then headed out. As they walked, Lukas hung back behind them, so Arthur joined.

"Why?" Lukas asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Arthur replied, their voices hushed.

"Come on, you know Alfred planned all this against me."

"He's doing it with good intention. Lukas you haven't dated anyone since… well you know."

"I just don't have a need to date anyone. Besides you heard him talking about women." The late fall evening was cold and they could see their breath.

"That doesn't mean anything, you used to say you liked women too. Remember when you dated Natalia?" Lukas shuddered at the thought, but the two went through a goth phase together and decided to date.

"Are you guys going to keep chatting or come inside? It's cold." Alfred said. They reached the bar and went inside. Being a tuesday night, it was fairly empty. This didn't stop the two loud men from getting beers and starting a game of pool. Arthur and Lukas sat at a table near the bar, with drinks in hand.

The night continued much like that. Arthur and Lukas chatting, while Alfred and Mathias continued to drink and play more pool. The more drank, the worse they got. Alfred slumped over to the table and whispered something to Arthur, whose face turned quite red. He shoved the other off with a laugh but it didn't work and Alfred placed an embarrassing kiss on the other's lips. Lukas turned away and saw Mathias sitting at the bar watching whatever sports recap was on the tv. Not wanting to be around the increasingly sexual kissing, Lukas went and sat next to him.

"You're very quiet." Mathias noted. "That's kinda cute."

Lukas turned pink, causing Mathias to chuckle.

"Do you like sports?" He asked. Lukas shrugged.

"It never really appealed to me."

"Really? Alfred said you were a vikings fan. To each their own. Sports are very exciting." He pointing to the tv. "Like look at that. Look at how much effort those players put into their work. It takes a lot of training and strength. I mean look how strong I am."

Mathias flexed his muscles in his arm, holding it up in front of Lukas, who, once more, turned pink. He pushed Lukas into feeling his muscles and the smaller of the two was slightly in awe.

"Ehm… so what do you play on your team?" Lukas said, trying to make conversation.

"Oh i'm the kicker! Playing soccer in high school along with football really helped my accuracy." Mathias replied. "It made my legs super strong as well."

"That's really- wait where did the others go?" Lukas said, looking at the now abandoned booth.

"No idea. They seemed to be having a bit of fun." Mathias said with a chuckle. Lukas pulled out his phone, calling Arthur's number. There was no answer. He sighed.

"Well they're not coming back."

"How do you know?"

"This happens sometimes. They're both rather… sexual drunks."

"Oooh. I understand, I get like that too." Mathias said, laughing. "Looks like you'll need a ride home then?"

"I can just take an uber." Lukas said.

"Nonsense. I have a car, I haven't had nearly the amount of alcohol that Alfred has, might as well give you a ride." Finally the other agreed and they walked back by the restaurant and searched the small parking lot for his car. Then Mathias stops and starts laughing. Lukas stared at him.

"I'm so stupid. I actually took an uber here. My car is in Minnesota!" At this point he's doubled over laughing and Lukas can't help but chuckle as well. "I will admit, I'm not sober."

"I'll get an uber." Lukas said, pulling his phone out.

"No no I'll call an uber. I'm not gonna make you pay for my stupidity." Mathias pushes Lukas' phone down and pulls out his own, getting the app up and putting in his address and information. "It should take five minutes."

The two stood together, waiting. Mathias rocked back and forth on his feet. The silence was very uncomfortable to the athlete.

"So… what's your favorite color?" He said, breaking it. Lukas let out a soft chuckle.

"Blue." _Like your eyes._ He wanted to say.

"Nice! Mine is red. Suppose it should be purple, but can't help that I just look better in red."

"True." Lukas said, then blushing at the realization of what he said. Mathias laughed. The uber pulled up at that moment and they got in. The ride was short, about seven minutes of more silence, then they pulled up in front of a small home.

"Thank you!" Mathias told the driver and he went off, leaving the two in front of the house. "I can have my cousin drive you home from here, since ya know, no car."

"I can just call my brother." Lukas said, pulling his phone out once more and sending his brother a text. "What's the address here?"

Mathias told him and Emil agreed to pick him up.

"Do you want to come in?"

"...Sure." Lukas followed the other into the house. He was automatically hit with the scent of whatever was made for dinner and pine. Inside was all decorated, as if Christmas exploded. There was a huge tree in the corner of the room, which was where the pine scent came from.

"My cousin's fiance really gets into christmas." Mathias said, noticing Lukas looking around.

"Mattie are you home?" A small blonde man peeked around the corner.

"Hey Tino, this is Lukas." Tino came up to the norwegian.

"Hello! I'm Tino! Mathias' future cousin!" He said, with a smile. "Would you like some cocoa?"

"Uhm no thanks, my brother should be here soon to take me home." Lukas replied.

"Oh come on Lukas just a cup. I swear Tino always has cocoa ready." Mathias grabbed the other's hand and brought him to the kitchen where a tall man sat with a small cup, completely opposite of his appearance.

"This is my cousin Berwald. Ber this is Lukas." The two nodded to each other, both being men of small words. Mathias, still holding the others hand, let go as Berwald raised an eyebrow at the two. A chime came from Lukas' phone meaning Emil had arrived, so he quickly excused himself and headed for the door, Mathias following him.

"Hey tell Alfred and Arthur thanks for inviting me out tonight. It was fun. We should all get together again before I leave." Mathias said with a quick wink, causing Lukas to go pink. He stammered out a "yea" before almost running out the door and down the walkway to the car. Mathias waved out the open door.

"Nice meeting you Lukas!" he called. Emil smirked at Lukas' pink face.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"A friend of Alfred's."

"Then why were you at his house, and why did I have to pick you up?" Emil pulled away from the curb and started heading home.

"Alfred and Arthur ditched us so we took an uber to his place and I texted you. Simple."

"Right." They listened to the soft music coming from the radio; k-pop unsurprisingly. Another chime went off from Lukas' phone.

 _Hope you had fun and found your way home._ It was from Arthur.

 _I did. We took an uber back to his place and emil picked me up._

 _What did you think of mathias? Last we saw you were checking out his muscles._

 _All i'm going to say is that man can kick me in the face and i will say thank you._


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry it's a short chapter. kinda a filler, also just wanted to throw some ice ice baby in there.**

* * *

It was the day before thanksgiving, no surprise the office was mostly empty, save a few cleanings here and there. Lukas found himself looking up more about football, Mathias request of seeing each other before he went back echoing in his mind. Well not just him, but Arthur and Alfred as well.

He wanted something to actually talk about with the athlete, so he tried to learn what he could about football. It was pretty simple, and considering the fans, i.e. Alfred, that wasn't much of a surprise. Lukas watched a few videos, mainly featuring the man of his interest.

The bell rang to the door signaling someone entering and Lukas looked up to see his brother.

"Let's get lunch." He said. Lukas looked at the time, it was about time he took his break anyways. The two went over to the panera that was attached to the shopping strip the office was in. They sat across from each other at a long table, Emil sipping his coke awkwardly.

"I have to tell you something." he said. Lukas raised an eyebrow. "I uh…"

"Lukas!" came a voice across the room. Mathias sat with his cousin and cousin's fiance. He quickly came over, setting his plate next to Lukas and settling in while the two others sat next to Emil.

"Is this your brother?" Mathias asked.

"Yes. This is Emil." Lukas replied, trying not to let a blush creep to his face, meanwhile his brother looked uncomfortable.

"Hi Emil. My name is Mathias and this is my cousin Berwald and his fiance Tino."

"Hi." Emil said, making eye contact with Lukas, his annoyance piercing the other's pupils. Mathias began to talk about how he broke his arm as a kid, falling out of the back of a truck. It was quite the humorous story and Lukas was rather mesmerized by the man, he barely noticed his phone vibrate, that is until Emil kicked him under the table and motioned to his phone.

 _I needed to talk to you. Can we leave these people_ It was from Emil. Lukas shrugged in response, suggesting he doesn't know what to do.

 _I can practically see you drooling so unless you want to keep making a fool of yourself we should go_

Lukas felt his face heat up and he cleared his throat, making an excuse about having to get back to work and Emil having to get back to school.

"Oh.. well it was nice seeing you again!" Mathias said, looking rather rejected. The two brothers took care of their dishes and left to walk back to the office.

"So what did you have to tell me?" Lukas said before they reached the building. Emil shyed back.

"I uh… I'm kinda… dating someone…" he said.

"Oh really? Who?" Lukas knew the answer, but played along for his brother's sake. Emil wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Leon." A small smile spread across the older brother's face and he let out a chuckle. "Hey don't laugh at me."

"I'm not. I just knew it."

"Don't say you knew it, that takes away from my big reveal!"

"I'm sorry Emil. But you guys spend a lot of time together and you're not the straightest crayon in the box."

"You're one to talk. Fawning over that football player like a lame high schooler. If we're gonna talk about anyone being gay it's you." Emil's face was scrunched up in defense.

"I at least dated a woman." Lukas said with a smirk.

"Natalia hardly counts."

"I won't argue on that. I'll see you after work little brother." The two went their separate ways and Lukas survived the rest of his work shift. There were happy thanksgivings thrown out and 'don't die on black friday!' being said and Lukas headed home. The apartment was dark when he arrived, the only living creature being their cat, Valkyrie.

Lukas kicked off his shoes at the door and walked into the kitchen, trying to plan out what to eat. There wasn't much in the fridge, nothing to make a meal out of. He decided on heating up some chinese food from the freezer. He ate his food on the couch, the dinner not being formal enough for the table.

With the night coming to a close, Lukas wrapped himself in his blankets, letting sleep overtake him.


	4. Chapter 4

**pro-tip: work on fanfiction at work and it's like you're paid to write fanfiction!**

 **also friendly reminder Elizabeta = Hungary & Vladimir = Romania **

**and i only know so much about football so please don't kill me**

* * *

Thanksgiving was uneventful. Lukas and Emil had a nice dinner alone, the two making homemade pizza. It was a tradition since neither had the cooking skills to make a turkey, but pizza was pretty easy. It would take skill to fuck that up when the directions are on the package of pizza dough.

"What are you thankful for this year little brother?" Lukas asked.

"Acceptance." Emil said, his brother rolled his eyes.

"To gay brothers." Lukas said raising his glass of wine. Emil did the same with his, being a holiday he was allowed a glass of alcohol, and they tapped them together. The rest of the night was quiet and much like any other night. Holidays were no special occasion for the two.

Unfortunately Mathias had to return early to Minnesota. An impending snow storm for saturday had potential to cancel his flight so he had to catch one on friday, not wanting to miss his game on sunday. So once more Lukas found himself on Arthur's couch Sunday afternoon as the trio watched the Vikings game on tv, the snow blowing as heavily outside as it was on the tv.

"What's worse, midwest winter or new england winter?" Alfred asked.

"I wouldn't know, I haven't ventured much out of New England," Arthur replied. "Nor has Lukas."

"I"ll ask Matt if he knows." Alfred grabbed his phone to send a text.

"What about Canadian winters? Doesn't your brother live in Ottawa?" Lukas asked.

"That's true too. We're gonna have to have a winter-bro-off between Canada, Minnesota, and here."

"Whatever you say dear." Arthur said, waving his hand.

"We're gonna fly to Antarctica, stand dead ass naked and the first one to freeze a nipple off loses." Alfred said, laughing so hard he started coughing.

"You're forgetting that it's tradition when one becomes a Canadian citizen, they cut off your nipples already, therefore your contest won't work." Lukas said with a soft chuckle. Alfred let out another loud laugh.

"I forget how funny you can be sometimes dude. You really need to let that humor show."

"I don't know how long this snow will last, but we're going to have to shovel eventually before it turns to ice." Arthur was looking out the window. Living in a duplex, they had to take care of half the yard and half the driveway.

"We'll do it later, the game is on." Alfred pulled the other on his lap and turned back to the tv. The game was currently tied, the vikings with the ball. There were 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter and it was a third down on the 20 yard line.

"-the ball is flying in the air and it is caught by number 47 Køhler! He's running, look at that man go! That's his soccer skills coming into play Bob. He's passing the ten yard line! Nobody is even close to him!"

"Go Matt GO!" Alfred yelled, jumping up. Even Lukas was sitting up now.

"And TOUCHDOWN FOR THE VIKINGS!" The camera panned over to where Mathias had jumped into the crowd behind the endzone, everyone grabbing onto him, just trying to touch the athlete. His smile showed from behind his helmet, his pride shining, knowing he's just won them the game.

"That's your man Lukas." Alfred said. The norwegian rolled his eyes and slumped back onto the couch. The tv went back to the announcers who were talking about _what a spectacular game Bob, I haven't seen a play like that since Brett Favre in…_

The next few weeks were pretty bland, despite leading up to Christmas. Lukas went to work, went home, then spent Sunday afternoons at Arthur and Alfred's.

"Thank you for calling First Star Dental, my name is Lukas how can I help you today?" Lukas said into the headset one morning at work.

"Hello I need to make an appointment for m'fiance. He broke his tooth." said a man on the other line, his voice deep.

"Is he an existing patient?" Lukas replied.

"No. His name is Tino Vainamoinen." Lukas recognized the name as Mathias' cousin.

"Can you spell that?" Berwald spelled it for him and Lukas put it down along with the other information he gave him such as birth date and how to care for the tooth.

"We'll see you in here at 3." Lukas said, then hung up. He hadn't heard Berwald talk before, but his voice was about what you expected, minus the heavy swedish accent.

However what Lukas didn't expect was around three for Mathias to come walking in with a clearly upset Tino. The taller man's face lit up when he saw Lukas though.

"Oh man of all the dentist in the city you work at this one!" Mathias said, clearly excited.

"Hello Mathias." Lukas said, trying to remain professional. "I'll need you to fill out some paperwork and the dentist will be with you shortly."

He handed over a clipboard and pen to Tino and the two sat down. Mathias kept looking over while the other filled out the paperwork and Lukas tried not to let it distract him from his work. When Tino was done, Mathias brought the clipboard back up himself.

"So… did you see that game I won last month?" He asked Lukas, who answered with a simple _mhm._

"Tino." The dental assistant called out and the man walked back with her leaving Lukas and Mathias the only two in the lobby.

"So… this looks like a boring job." Mathias said.

"It's not bad."

"It's pretty dead in here. What do you do to keep yourself entertained?" Mathias peered over the desk at the computer, trying to see what he was doing. Lukas turned it away from him.

"There's plenty to do. I have both digital and physical files to organize, and usually we are a lot more busy but being so close to Christmas, not many people want dental work done."

"Do you get sick of the talk shows?" Mathias asked, referring to the tv across from the desk.

"I hardly pay attention to it. It's the music that gets me." The phone rang. "Thank you for calling First Star Dental, my name is Lukas how can I help you?"

Lukas listened to the other person while Mathias played with the pens on the desk… then with the stapler on the desk… then with the paperclips… until Lukas smacked his hand away.

"No sir we are closed on Christmas Eve. Yes and Christmas day. Yes. Okay… okay.. Goodbye." He hung up the phone.

"No appointment?" Mathias asked.

"They wanted to know if we were going to be open during Christmas in case their wife's cooking made their teeth fall out."

"A bit early to be drinking." This made Lukas let out a soft laugh.

"So how exactly did Tino break his tooth? Berwald didn't explain too clearly." Lukas asked.

"Oh man… he was trying to open a can of maraschino cherries and got very frustrated because he couldn't. Apparently he has a short temper. So he tried to use his teeth to open the jar, I don't know how. It wasn't the brightest thing he's done, and Berwald blames himself for not being there to open it."

"Well it looked like an easy fix, he'll be fine." Lukas watched Mathias absentmindedly play with the pens again, his blue eyes looking up to meet the others.

"Say Lukas, wanna grab dinner tonight?" he asked. Lukas' eyebrows shot up.

"I...what? Uhm.. sure." He stuttered out.

"Awesome. I'll text Alfred and see if they wanna come too." Lukas felt his heart drop. Of course he wasn't asking him on a date, why would he? Mathias picked up his phone and started typing away and Lukas turned back to his work.

"So I'm feeling chinese, does that work for you?" Mathias asked. Lukas nodded, not turning away from his computer. He really had to type out these requests. Mathias listed a few places from off his phone and Lukas half listened, but he couldn't shake the disappointment.

Tino then came out and Lukas set up a follow up appointment plus a routine cleaning since it had been awhile since he had one. Before leaving Mathias wrote down the place and time they were supposed to meet, along with his phone number. After he left one of the dental assistants, Elizabeta, came up.

"What a nice looking man." She said. "You're lucky, he seemed into you."

"He's a friend of mine." Lukas replied.

"Friend or not, he was interested in you." She leaned on the desk. "You're into him?"

"I'm not." He replied.

"You are. You're a bad liar Lukas and you know it. What was on the note?"

"We're getting dinner, _with our two other friends_." he said, adding emphasis on the second part.

"Double date." she said with a laugh. Lukas sighed.

"You have an appointment in thirteen minutes for a filling, better get ready."

"Shit. You should ask him out though. He's obviously into you." Elizabeta said, walking away towards the rooms. There was no way she was right. If Mathias liked Lukas then he wouldn't have asked Alfred and Arthur to join them tonight for dinner. Elizabeta had been wrong before. She said Lukas and their old receptionist Vladimir would be a good couple, but that man was stuck in a twilight phase that wouldn't go away.

No, once again Elizabeta was wrong. Mathias definitely didn't like Lukas.


End file.
